Work Smarter Not Harder: Work When You Work Best
Today’s guest post is by Jeffrey Wood and deals with a topic few of us even bother to consider – but is essential to achieving maximum productivity from the work we do. Read it and enjoy ~ Ros
An oft heard term everywhere I’ve worked has been “Work smarter not harder“.
This often is in reference to things like being organized before you start, setting up your work area, figuring out ways to not rely on brute strength, etc.
For Internet Marketers “Working smarter not harder” is sometimes used for outsourcing certain tasks or doing your research before entering a market or by using existing tools instead of reinventing the wheel.
Today though I’m looking at it in a different sense.
I’m talking about working with your natural biorhythms instead of against them. Sounds kinda like some whacky new age thing, doesn’t it?
Here’s what I mean: I am a night owl by nature and over the years this has been reaffirmed every day off I’ve ever had. I like staying up late, but not all night and I like sleeping in, but not all day.
In fact, swing shift would be the ideal working hours for me if it wasn’t for one teeny tiny issue…I hate working those hours.
I once had over a month off due to an injury. “Aha”, I thought to myself, “I’ll have so much time to work on my internet business.” I daydreamed of all the things I’d get done. Yeah right, didn’t happen.
During the daytime, the time most people think they’d be the most productive were actually the LEAST productive hours for me. I’d be (and still am) distracted by e-mail, noise, snack attacks, Twitter and just about everything else you can imagine. I just couldn’t focus for very long.
Oh sure, most of it was related to work, there’s always a blog post from an expert to read, a resource they mention to check out, the occasional news headline that the Great Plague was caused by flying monkeys, etc. There’s nothing like being Productively Unproductive.
I know what you’re thinking.
You’re thinking, “Well, all you had to do was to not turn on your e-mail, Twitter, or those other things until you got your blog post written or a message added to your autoresponder, or whatever else you had to do.”
Great in theory, but that didn’t matter, I still couldn’t focus. The daytime is the perfect time for me to check Twitter, check e-mails, make phone calls and things, but it’s horrible for just about everything else.
I work better and am more focused, either in the early morning or late night. Here it is at 5:30 am and I am very focused, very undistracted, very productive, but in a couple of hours that will change.
This is what I mean when I say work smarter not harder by working with your body instead of against it. I know the times I am most productive at certain tasks, so even though I have all day and could have (would have loved to) sleep in, I got up at 5am so I could be focused and productive doing the things I need to do to add content to my sites.
Now if you only have 5pm to 6:15pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays to work on your internet business, then you don’t have a choice, you MUST figure out how to work very focused during those times. Use Tuesday to prepare and Thursday to execute the plan OR divide up the time however you need to.
But when you do have the time on a day off or vacation or whatever, work with your body whenever you can. I can happily spend 10 hours planted on my rear end on the computer working, but I still know when I’m going to be able to work at my best at certain tasks.
Figure out when you are at your best and work with it. The time you spend on a task may be cut down, but you may find ironically that your productivity goes up.
And that my friend, is one way to work smarter not harder and now I must go, for the Twitter, it calls to me.
About The Author
Jeffery Wood is the author of “How To Set Up A WordPress Blog And Forum” and is a part time internet marketer. His teeny tiny corner of the internet can be found at http://sweatyshop.com
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Rosalind Gardner is a Super Affiliate blogger, author, speaker, and Internet marketing consultant.
If you enjoyed this article and want to be notified the next time Rosalind writes something, subscribe to her RSS feed or the No-Hype, No-BS, No Spam NPT newsletter. You can also follow her on Twitter and Facebook. Thanks for visiting!
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WOW! It’s SO nice to know that I’m not crazy!
I’ve been working from home for the last 2 years, and I’ve always had a terrible time focusing throughout the day. But, come 4pm, I get hugely focused — and that’s when the excitement (and work) happens!
Thanks for your post, Jeffrey… I like being not-crazy.
Cynthia Lay
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Chief Butterfly Herder
We all not-crazy Cynthia. My best time is around three-four in the morning or when the world around me is fast asleep. Does it mean I want to get into bed after everyone, or be up before all?
You’re quite welcome Cynthia. I know I’m not crazy…weird perhaps, but not crazy.
Rosalind, I LOVE the formatting you did. It looks great.
– Jeffery
Oh how I can relate!cWho can’t? I’m so convinced I ave a serious case of ADD and really do try everything you described…
Productively Unproductive. Love it; think I’ll steal it.
A very constructive post, Jeffery. When repetitive tasks such as posting are part of ones business, productivity and discipline and a system are very necessary. I struggle with it everyday, succumbing to distractions by the dozen. I am trying to set goals, such as so many words written a day, and working backwards to a daily routine to accomplish the goal. Mornings are my best time, 6 am starts.
Thanks again.
Nice guest post! It’s very important for us entrepreneurs to understand when our peak performance hours are. Ask me to work at night and you’ll have one distracted and unfocused homepreneur. Yet I have many friends who operate incredibly efficient and effective during the evening hours.
I personally add more productivity hours through my day by incorporating short bursts of home office fitness into my workday. This gives me a major productivity boost, improves my quality of work, and gives me more energy to play with my kids when I close down the laptop when they get home from school.
I have an issue with the “Work smarter, not harder” saying. I’m all for working smarter and more effectively so I can get more done in less time, but you better believe that I’m working harder during my productivity hours than most homepreneurs out there. You have to work hard if you want to be successful. Working hard and working long hours is not the same thing.
Hi Scott,
I really like your point about “incorporating short bursts of home office fitness” making you more productive.
I don’t do short bursts, but I find that a good long walk just after lunch really increases my energy levels, not only that day — but also into the next.
Cheers,
Ros
Excellent Ros! I love going for walks and often incorporate them into my day. I use it to clear my head and educate myself. I love to pop in an educational audio, audio book, or a recorded coaching call from one of my mentors.
I find that exercise helps me absorb the info better. I get some of my best ideas to implement when I go for bike rides as well. There’s a beautiful country road and winding river that I follow and it’s the perfect atmosphere to spark creativity.
Scott Tousignant
I must be eating the wrong things, the only thing I feel like after lunch is a good long nap! LOL
Hi again Scott,
You and I are lucky. You have the ‘beautiful country road and winding river’ and I just took my god-dog (Chinook) for a nice long walk along the beach on Okanagan Lake. She also likes to go skiing and snowshoeing.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roamsters/3181240970/in/set-72157612337562064/
The brain definitely works better when the body is pumped full of oxygen… so we can’t wait to get out skiing again.
Cheers,
Ros
Hi Dennis,
I got into an after-lunch nap rut for the longest time. Now I avoid both the couch and CNN over lunch and life is so much better!
Cheers,
Ros
Beautiful picture Ros! I know your area fairly well. I have family that live in Delta BC, plus most of my friends moved out your way to Vancouver, Victoria, Squamish, and Whistler. I’ve been to the Okanagan Lake a couple times.
Because I always have a place to stay I tend to travel to BC quite a bit.
Being able to enjoy scenery like that sure makes our work rewarding.
Scott
Hey Scott,
Make sure you let me know when you’re in the area again… I have a lovely guestroom. Bring your bike, we’ll do the KVR and you get to call it a ‘business trip’.
Cheers,
Ros
Shucks… thanks Ros! That’s an offer I couldn’t refuse